Monday 31 January 2011

So Far, So Good.....

Today is the big day.  The day I leave the safe cacoon (and excuse) of being a trainee accountant or a newly qualified accountant to a fully fledged accountant with a permanent post to boot.  There is no more excuses of not knowing....now I step up and hit that oh so steep learning curve and don't stop until I get to the top*.

So far, I have been given all morning to unpack my desk....which took all of 30 minutes.  This afternoon I get the first instalment of an induction, followed by the rest tomorrow morning.  Then.......my new boss has a couple of jobs for me.

So far, it has been easier than this weekend was.  Which, incidently, included but was not restricted to:
  • Zumba at the gym (incredibly amusing and soooo much fun though I have discovered that I cannot jump backwards and shake my booty at the same time); 
  • the beautician; 
  • evening visits to some extremely good friends then the fun ended to be replaced by
  • shopping, 
  • trekking on a 3 hour journey to pick up a stranded brother-in-law, 
  • cooking 2 different soups for 3 hours; 
  • the requisite cooking and cleaning for the family....
  • oh, and pimping the baba fluff** out to hopefully get puppies in 8 weeks.

I am still waiting for the weekend where I can sit and catch up on the 2 planners (one of which is now at 2% and at risk of not recording Morgan in his finest).

Considering that I only just managed an exercise class that involved a form of running for 45 minutes, it could be tricky.
**  It should be noted that baba fluff (otherwsie known as Cala Fluff) is in fact nearly 3 years old and therefore eligable to be pimped out in the hope that I can have 4 beautiful bundles of joy running around the house for 6 weeks.

Friday 21 January 2011

The problem with Facebook......

Well there are many, not the least being the constant refreshing of my "compatability view" but I suspect that is due to a virus Internet Explorer picked up thanks to a rather rude backdoor virus which allows other things to sneak in - no rude comments, I can think of many on my own thank you very much.

One problem is the constant stream of pretty advertisements on the right hand part of the page not least a current one that is displaying a rather fetching pair of Louboutins.

Would I really pay that amount of money for a pair of shoes? Hell No! ..... not unless I won the lottery or some mysterious rich benefactor left me some in a will/gift sort of way.  However, I am rather partial (of all things) to the pretty red sole that is there trademark.

What just the sole I hear you say.  Ah, but I am weird like that - I am rather partial to being able to point out just one part of things I love; for example I am rather partial to a nice pair of biceps on a man, even more if it is adorned with a tattoo - rather than the actual man themselves as a whole package.

In the case of Louboutins, it is not the sole per se because that would just be weird!  I have a thing for red. I like red. As a result I have a pair or two of many red shoes - all with high heels and some with peeptoes.  

In fact, I will forever remember a day in Liverpool sat in a shoe shop for 30 minutes trying to decide whether I could justify buying two pairs of red shoes because I was experiencing too much difficulty choosing between them.  

All shoes are pretty.  Lets remember I had fitted wardrobes built across a WHOLE wall in my bedroom to make room for clothes and even had additional shelves built in for shoes.  The more fabulous expensive the shoe the more likely they are to be honoured with an individual box to protect themselves in.   

However, I have determined that there are some ways in which they could be even prettier.....
  1. Buy more - after all, shoes are like people - happier when they spend time with like minded shoes
  2. Lose some weight - for which there are various reasons, primarily as pretty as they are I have decided that red shoes would be so much prettier than they already are if my ankles were slimmer:
  • my ankles are predisposed to swell even when I am tiny tiny however truly when in a car or on a train for more than 2 hours they resemble everyone elses ankles after a 10 hour flight - so I need to stop travelling with work - now I just need to work out how to work that argument in with the boss
  • my ankles swell during the day - after all, you rarely find an accountant running around all day - face it we sit on our butts which do not help the ankles in any way.  I could always avoid the issue by ensuring that I have two different outfits each day - one involving a skirt and another trousers for later in the day.

    

Saturday 15 January 2011

About Bl**dy Time!

Well!  I have no excuse other than it would appear that when you qualify as a bona fide accountant they expect you to know a few things...oh, and do them as quickly as someone who has been qualified for 10 years.  So basically I have lived at work and when I did venture home creeped back at the weekends to do a bit more.

I've decided I am not overly enamoured with the stress of working in the higher grade on a permanent basis but I so enjoyed the work I was doing and I am so very sad not to be able to stay on the same team.  I had to find a permanent post or be declared suplus at the end of March.  I applied for the only post available, because y'all know the new government have decided that we all must work hard enough to do the 40% of additional work that will be created as a result of laying of 40% of the workforce in order to claw back THEIR deficit.  

I got the job which I think was either out of desperation because only 1 other person applied (I suspect) or because I had layngitis and they thought that the extra high squeeky voice meant I must be desperate and they felt a favour was required.  

The job is in policy, lets just clarify at this point that I have avoided policy roles like the plague for the 4 years I have been getting qualified.  It's only fitting then that I work in that role as my first proper job - I am a little bit scared.  All right a lot. I think I may fall on my arse and ruin the career before it starts.  Hubby would say self-confidence was never my strong point.  However, I am immensely grateful to have a fairly stable permanent job at the moment so I am not complaining, just scared.

Where have I been?  Well working and stressing the rest of the time and I have decided that life is too short and family are much too important for that.  I love being at home.  I think I may have mentioned I want to win the lottery before so I can be a housewife and the mother I yearn to be....that and breed Bichon Frise and Maltese puppies and only sell them to families with children.

I had two weeks off for Christmas and New Year.  It was very greedy and indulgent of me but it was the first time I have had more than 3 days off for that period in 5 years.  Some would worry about the fact that I was writing daily lists of things to do around the house and moving things from cupboards to cupboards by the second week.  Others would think me mental for setting up and maintaining a spreadsheet that lists, by author, the books I have read, want to read, will keep and those I will read and then pass onto charities and friends.  In my defence....I AM AN ACCOUNTANT - SPREADSHEETS ARE WHAT WE DO (though I don't know how to work most formulas hence the need to stress and come in and do extra hours) - and I buy 2 books a week during the daily food shop (don't ask!) and so have a stock of 50 (and those are only the ones I will read and pass onto others, not the ones I will keep) that still need to be read. 

On other reasons for not blogging updates; all the TV programmes I love have started - having Sky HD and Sky + I MUST fill up the planner on both - and I am watching all sorts of new programmes plus some of my favourites - Glee (Sue Sylvester is my AMAZING!), Criminal Minds (because I am a closet FBI profiler and Morgan is SOOOOOO fine) and Greys Anatomy (well because it makes me cry and then go and hug Hubby and Beautiful B and they roll their eyes).

The whole gym thing is going okay - that slipped a little because of the work and resultant need to sleep or spend time with family but my New Years Resolution to teach myself to jog/run this year will sort that out kind of sharpish.  Seriously guys, I have never run-I need surgery for it not to be painful, enough is enough I have decided I can run on the treadmill while I am watching Morgan do his thing.  The weight thing is fabulous and my other resolution is to lose the same weight again as that which I have lost in the last 4 months - that's easy, after all, I can do that while at work.

Beautiful B is marvellous and as gorgeous as ever.  She is a hardworking little B having taken only Christmas Day and New Years Day off work and they were forced on her, well because, you know it's a HOLIDAY.  I am so very proud of her work ethic (or desire for cash), she makes me proud to be her mum every single minute of every single day.

Hubby is wonderful.  He is at home while I blog  work doing the washing and making lasagne for tea during football, snooker, golf, cricket, darts breaks.

Angel is having a mare!  If I was the praying sort (and lets face it, as a disfellowshiped Jehovah's Witness and only one step up from the devil I am not sure it would help if I was) I would pray for her right now.  I may talk about God but I do sometimes question if he exists and even if he doesn't cause the problems, why doesn't he stop them - Angel and her beautiful family are crapped on from a great height on a very regular basis.  I am there for her, holding her hand throughout, and loving her more each day and she knows that and says it helps.  On the up side, she is ecstatic at Blackpool's antics in the Premier League.  I will not even dream to know what half of what is going on - all I know is that the manager's interviews are always worth watching - like me, he says what he thinks and I am not sure he thinks about the potential fallout before he opens his mouth.